Medieval

Once early Christianity became the dominant religion in Western Europe, the Eastern story of a Jewish messiah in a culture under Roman...

The Lamb before the Elders, Revelation 5: 8-10 The Great East Window of York Minster is the largest expanse of stained glass in England,...

York East Window, 1405-7, The Seventh Day of Creation Talk about biting off more than one can chew: the Great East Window of York Minster...

In my previous two posts , I discussed medieval symbolic animals which derived from real-life creatures, and then the Monstrous Races,...

Triton, ridden by Poseidon, backgammon game piece, walrus ivory, Louvre Museum, Norway or Cologne origin, late 12th c. Mythical...

Tiny lion, Worcester Cathedral, 14th c. While much of the ornamentation in a medieval church was instructional or devotional, the...

Portals in medieval churches were often imbued with imagery of the contrast between sin and salvation, punishment and redemption. The...

The sculptural program in Fidenza's San Donnino is an oft-overlooked set of masterpieces. Fidenza is a small town compared to the much...

Often, examining an object found in an old church is a lot like playing "Where's Waldo?" in reverse. You have your "Waldo," the special...

In my last post, I began the Herculean task of trying to give a general overview of demons in medieval art. I came away from writing...

13th c. capital of a sinner being devoured, Saint Pierre, Chauvigny, France A nasty case of Covid pretty much bankrupted my energy for...

12th century mosaic, Bobbio, depicting the month of March, emphasizing wind (I think) By the time March arrives, the January 1st...

On October 25th, 2022, I gave a lecture at Metropolitan State University on the Origins of Sirens. In the presentation, I trace how...

I love when a museum makes learning fun. The French Monuments Museum (FMM, for brevity here) in Paris gives a presentation that is...

Medieval artists had a standard repertoire of scenes from the life of Jesus to reproduce in churches and personal religious items. ...

Caves evoke mystery to a modern person. We're so used to having all the light we want, wherever and whenever we go. Our interiors are...

Let's look at some less-well-known uses of lions in medieval art, including art from outside the Christian tradition. Sanctuary Knocker,...

The use of lions in medieval religious and political art hews closely to the traditions inherited from around the Mediterranean. Lions...

Baptism changed both in its practice and its artistic representation from its introduction in the Gospels to its depictions across...

When I began to study medieval art in graduate school, I found myself often puzzling over murky, low-contrast images in black-and-white,...